Windows Phone 8 Marketplace Going Global

Microsoft has massive plans for Windows Phone 8's app and games store out of the box, making it available across much of the world. This will expand the opportunities available for app developers for consumers and the enterprise, as well as for those selling content.

Battle of the App Stores

Microsoft's Marketplace is in a pitch battle with the Apple and Android stores. Not just for users, somewhat predicated by their choice of hardware, but for developers. The more apps and content they can bring, the better their hopes of success are. To attract the developers, they can start offering more incentives to developers on their share of the sales, or they can try to improve the volume of potential sales with a wider presence in more markets.

Microsoft is taking that option at full tilt, offering 180 countries where content and app developers can sell their wares. People in a great number of countries can also submit apps to the App Hub, vastly increasing the market for local content. A new blog post from the Windows Phone team lists all those territories, ripe for the picking. The phone itself will support some 50 languages.

Better Ways to Profit

Microsoft is also sweetening the deal by bringing in-app purchases to Windows Phone 8. For enterprise app developers there is also the chance to sell vanilla applications in the Company Hub. These can be developed and sold to business users to solve their mobility issues or make their workforce more productive when on the go.

When Windows Phone 8, first shown off just a couple of weeks back, launches this Fall, it has a huge amount of catch-up on its rivals, but its huge scale in the international marketplace. While Apple and Google have built up substantial coverage areas, this is a big leap forward for Microsoft and improves their chances of seeing international success with Windows Phone 8.

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